


Pain

by AlternativeRocker



Series: Serendipity [2]
Category: Taggart - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-26
Updated: 2013-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-16 07:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/859400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlternativeRocker/pseuds/AlternativeRocker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karen has moved away but why doe  She ignore Matt after one of their phone calls?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pain

They had been on the phone for over an hour and a half yet time had flown by as they had not been face to face for almost six months yet they still felt comfortable picking up where they left off in their last conversation. Karen had been in her new post down in London and seemed to be enjoying it whilst Matt had a new male DCS who didn't appreciate his team and their attitudes.

She had promised herself that she would not say her next words but it slipped out before she could stop it, "I'm missing you. And of course the station as a whole."

"I miss you too. Stop lying, you love it down there in your swanky new office!" It went over her head that he had not mentioned the rest of the station as she had as she bit her lip to prevent her saying any more.

"Yeah..."

"What time do you get in at?"

Their words were not flowing as easily as they once had and for the first time since their introductions they were both scared about whether or not they could keep it going. More than a year has passed since she had said goodbye to them and Karen had called his home number ten minutes prior to inform him she was going to a three day conference in Glasgow the following week.

"Just after midnight."

"I could give you a lift to the hotel." It may have been awkward on the phone but she was still one of his good friends, no matter how long since they last spoke.

"It's okay, I'll grab a nightbus."

"As if I'll allow that when I'm perfectly able."

"Well then I'll see you there."

She wrapped her arms around her as he returned the hug after he had met her off the near empty train. Matt thought she looked exhausted and realised she had no make up on which was a rare thing to see while Karen noticed he had lost some weight and went through some reasons in her head as to why, before finally relaxing into the embrace.

They were in his car halfway to the hotel when they got stopped at a set of traffic lights and he turned to her, "Do you fancy a nightcap at mine? I'll only have the one so I can still drive but you can go wild."

Karen hesitated, she wanted to accept but her brain was trying to persuade her against the idea. Ultimately her mouth made the choice for her. "Why not, it's not like the hotel will bother if I check in a bit later."

It was only another five minutes before they walked through his front door and took glasses and alcohol to the living room, settling down on to the same sofa. "So did some guy with a posh London voice sweep you off your feet?"

"No, why do you ask?" She had her legs pulled up underneath her, wine glass in one hand as she looked at him through dark lashes.

"You went silent for a while and I thought you might have been otherwise engaged." He said with a look which she didn't quite catch before he masked it with a smirk.

"Oh that, I just had a ton of work piled on to me."

For seven whole months, he thought, still believing she had got with somebody. He glanced quickly at his watch, falling to recall if she would be able to check in at this hour or not.

"If you don't want me here Burke why did you offer me so much as a lift?! At least have the fucking decency to pretend you wanted to see me at all this week!"

He stood up suddenly, his hand going up to his temple in frustration, "Christ Karen, have I done something wrong or have you taking up mood swings as a hobby? It was you who called me out of the blue after not answering texts or calls."

She was on her feet by the end of his question. "No, of course not! You... You don't get it, do you?"

"No! I don't and you had better bloody tell me right now!"

Her eyes bored into the rug beneath her boots, "Remember how I didn't call you for that little while?"

"Over half a year is a little while to you Karen? Cause it felt like an eternity not getting to hear your voice. Was that a seven month mood swing, I honestly have went over our last chat thousands of times to try to work out what I possibly said to hurt you."

"That! That is why I couldn't! You never hurt me. You said you missed me, I don't believe you and I couldn't bear the thought of you saying it again because I would be breaking my own heart."

"I meant every word then and now but I do not understand what you're talking about."

"If I believed you missed me even a fraction of how much I miss you then I would quit on the spot to come back here. You missed having me around as a friend but it just reminded me of how much I miss you." The change in tense between him missing her in the past and her feelings in the present was not lost on him and the haze lifted from his mind.

"You might be good at your job but you can be a right silly cow sometimes! Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Campbell, I didn't only miss your friendship, I do miss you entirely - from your gorgeous red hair to your forever strong weegie accent to your legs which I have spent a truly worrying amount of time staring at." He couldn't help but smile as he remembered all her tiny imperfections and habits that only served to make her more attractive in his eyes.

Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as his words hit her. "What?! Please don't be mucking me around because I don't think I'm up for it. You did miss me, really?"

"Course I did." He said, taking a step forward and moving a strand of hair which had fallen across her cheek to behind her ear, his fingers brushing down the length of her jaw.

She couldn't break the eye contact they were sharing until he eventually placed his lips on to her own. He wanted to tell her exactly what she made him feel but did not want to risk jumping the gun so just continued to kiss her, gently letting his hands travel around her sides and back, unaware that she was having the exact same thoughts.

"Where the hell do we go from here?" Karen muttered, attempting to steal more of a wool throw that was usually over the back of an armchair which they had used as a makeshift sheet to have some dignity while lying naked in the middle of his front room's floor.

"God knows; you could always still put the hotel on expenses."

She burst out laughing and rested her head on his chest. The sun would be up in next to no time and he would have to go to work and she to her first meeting but had pushed that fact away, revelling in the moment.

"I don't want to leave on Friday."

"You have to, regardless of how much I'd love the alternative you being down in England is more important. Just don't ignore me this time." He said a he turned and kissed her head, his fingers tracing her subtle curves before beginning to enjoy the moment more as she pressed their mouths together and moved so that she was above him as they showed one another just how much they missed, and loved, the other while she had been gone.


End file.
